darcy Posted March 28, 2018 Report Share Posted March 28, 2018 After turning out the light the other night I heard a loud "pop"... got up, and figured the dog was doing stupid stuff outside... Fine. I went to feed the fish last night and couldn't work out why my glass cover plates were sitting lower than the edge of the glass rim... wtf is going on... And then I noticed the centre brace had given out! (sorry - no photo). In short, the 2x 8mm pieces that were glued to the top and inside face of the front of the tank had detached, and the glass had bowed so much that the brace had sagged in to the water. ah crap... In other words, the front and rear faces had bowed out a combined 9-10mm over 90cm of width. I'd really rather prefer *not* to have 140-150 litres of water on the floor! I'm trying to work out what my options are. The tank was professionally made nearly 20 years ago. The stand and hood are all custom - so I'd probably need to get the tank custom made again. The kids haven't really been interested in the tank much over the last couple of years so we'd actually floated the idea of decommissioning it. This may well have kick started that process... The tank isn't heavily stocked at the moment - thankfully, but does have a couple of Pictus Cat's and a couple of 4-5 year old Bristlenose's. The Black line foxes are 3-4 years old... My old Fluval pump/filter from around 1999 is still going strong. The biggest pain is going to be the hood with custom light controller. It's got a PIC processor which switches the T5 tubes off in sequence etc... and really isn't suitable to give to someone else (it's something I made when making the stand) So, what on earth should I do? I've put pressure on the front and back faces using a tie-down strap and a couple blocks of wood. I'm pretty happy that i could leave it like that for weeks if I really needed to. So for now, I think disaster is averted. Although I'm very grateful the guy that made the tank (the original owner of the Fish Bowl in Hamilton) did such a good job! Should I try to repair the tank or is now the time to sell or give away all the tank bits (my wife would certainly like the space back)... I'm open to suggestions! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted March 28, 2018 Report Share Posted March 28, 2018 Repair. Get some glass cut for a Eurobrace and it will be a simple job of siliconing it on. You won't even need to remove the fish, just lower the water level a bit for the couple days while it drys. If the centre brace didn't last it is no use doing another one, a Eurobrace should be much stronger as it supports more of the glass edges. Of course on the other hand this is the perfect excuse to get a larger tank! Caryl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcy Posted March 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2018 Hi Shilo, Thanks, the euro-style brace (if I've understood what it is) is just on the ends of the tank - and is probably the reason I don't have 150L of water on the floor But, I can definitely see the advantages of having it along the long side... Unfortunately, due to the custom hood design, and very little forward thinking at the time, it wouldn't be compatible with the hood. To be fair... it's lasted 20 odd years so far, and been shipped between a couple of cities. After a bit more thought, I'm thinking now might be the time to pack it up... I have too many other hobbies as it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted March 29, 2018 Report Share Posted March 29, 2018 For the moment, drop the water level to relieve the pressure. Your stocking level is low enough to take the smaller volume of water. I was once told a tank should be re-siliconed every 10 years. My own tank is probably as old as yours and every time we have a quake I wait for the seals to give way It sounds to me like this might be a good time to pass the fish on to someone else and please your wife. She has put up with it for 20 years so now it is time to move it on. You could give the tank and all its bits to someone able to replace the brace. livingart and maxxi1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darcy Posted March 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2018 Probably a good idea Caryl... Are there any enthusiasts out in Waitakere that you know of? What is the best way to go about re-homing the fish? I would think it needs to be someone fairly local. After that, I can sell the tank on TM along with all the bits... livingart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted March 30, 2018 Report Share Posted March 30, 2018 I have shared your post to the Auckland club page https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=auckland fishkeepers association Caryl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 31, 2018 Report Share Posted March 31, 2018 On 3/29/2018 at 5:46 PM, Caryl said: For the moment, drop the water level to relieve the pressure. Your stocking level is low enough to take the smaller volume of water. I was once told a tank should be re-siliconed every 10 years. My own tank is probably as old as yours and every time we have a quake I wait for the seals to give way It sounds to me like this might be a good time to pass the fish on to someone else and please your wife. She has put up with it for 20 years so now it is time to move it on. You could give the tank and all its bits to someone able to replace the brace. Yeah, my tank is probably in the region of 20 years old too. Interesting to think my tank was probably built half my life ago. But...from the sounds of it, you're not really getting anything out of the tank. If you're not enjoying it anymore, give it and the livestock up to someone who will. Caryl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 2, 2018 Report Share Posted April 2, 2018 I hope you get some replies from the post Living Art has shared with the Auckland Club page. I have only been on the periphery of fish keeping for several years now as I have also moved on to other things. Still have a 4ft tropical but only because it is built into a bespoke (why are they now 'bespoke', they used to be called 'custom made'?) wall unit. The pond outside required little maintenance and is part of the landscape - and means less lawn to mow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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